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Volume 3 (1858-1859) (592 pages)
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Page: of 592
230 HUTCHINGS’ CALIFORNIA MAGAZINE.
that the evil to be remedied. It is not
to be done by making war upon the present order of society. The cut-and-thrust
method is not the one which promises
the best results in such an enterprise of
philanthropy. Revolution would, by no
means, ensure reform. The present order of things might be thrown into confusion, and yet the real grievance go unredressed. Where the difficulty is partly
moral, there must be a partial reliance
upon moral remedies. And, as to this
particular matter of poverty, like many
other social evils, its burdens and sorrows
must be alleviated by a more general diffusion of the human and Christian spirit
of charity, by effecting a cure of those
vices which produce it, and by a multitude of other means that cannot be referred to, arising out of the progress of
society in real civilization, and the deeper
and wider prevalence of the Christian
religion—operating as certainly and uncontrollably as the laws of nature. We
can see, at once, then, that the family,
the hearthstone, the sanctity and exelusiveness of home, does not stand in the
way of any needful or beneficent reform,
whatever. Home, the cherished sympathies of the household, the privacies of
domestic life, may remain firm on their
present basis, and yet all the conceivable
enterprises of sober and discreet reform
go forward only the more surely and
safely for the existence of these family
and domestic ties. I have now been
speaking at some length, with an objection in view, sometimes made to the family institution ; for the socialists account
the present organization of society into
families one of the chief impediments to
the practical success of their theories, or
dreams, as I regard them, of social reformation.
But let us now turn to some of the
blessings of home and the hearthstone—
its social uses and moral advantages. A
good home! To what place on earth
does the heart cling so fondly, and with
such pleasing and indestructible recollections. The home of our childhood! it is
the green spot of our earthly existence,
where the memories bask in the sunshine
which gilded the morning of life. In
this new and far-off land of our sojourn,
we turn back to the thought, not without
the deepest emotions of the heart—not
without recalling the dearest images and
awakening the most grateful recollections. Home! the place of our nativity
and chldish sports; the play-ground of
youth’s sunny period ; the primary school
of our moral and physical energies ; the
nursery where the opening germs of
manhood received their first bent and direction. Home! a word which lies very
near the heart of us all—imbedded in
tender and sacred associations! All that
is endearing in the relation of parents
and children, brothers and sisters, a
mother’s watchful love, a father’s protection, filial reverence and fraternal regards
—all cling around the word “Home,”
and over it always is spread the radiance
of those remembered joys and pleasures,
such as the morning of life only knows.
But, as the home of childhood is the
place which lies in the memory surrounded with the happiest and brightest fancies, so should the home of our manhood
—the home which we construct for ourselyes—he the charmed spot to which the
heart and the step return most lightly
and gladly. The man who makes for
himself ahappy home has the chief means
of all earthly comfort and blessing. He
need not care much for the world’s fayors or frowns. If his home is happy,
there is always a place of refuge in adversity and in prosperity. Nowhere will
the light of his success shine so brightly
as upon his hearthstone. Amidst the
peace and affection of home, and nowhere
else so well, is the wear and tear of life
repaired. When the world goes wrong,
when misfortune overtakes the man of